The material science of musical instrument strings has developed significantly over the past century and today strings are made from a variety of materials in order to suit a diverse spectrum of consumer preferences regarding tone quality and playability. Acoustic guitars, violins, violas, cellos and acoustic basses are traditionally strung with materials having relatively low elasticity, such as natural gut, nylon and other synthetic resins, which are used to achieve certain desired sound qualities and playability. Although gut strings have long been used on musical instruments and favored by many, they often exhibit non-uniform qualities, experience fluctuations in tensile strength due to adsorption of moisture and tend to deteriorate rapidly when exposed to changes in temperature and humidity. Nylon has gained wide acceptance as a substitute for gut strings and has the advantage of being manufactured with consistency and considerably more durability. Similar to gut strings, however, nylon is also sensitive to changes in humidity and suffers a significant loss of tension over time. Still other synthetic materials have been suggested for use in musical instruments. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,339,499 and 4,382,358 to Tappe et al. and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,833,027 and 5,427,008 to Ueba et al. disclose the use of a polyvinylidene fluoride material, U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,213 to Infeld teaches a musical instrument string comprised of aromatic polyamides, U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,541 to McIntosh et al. claims the use of thermoplastic aromatic polyetherketone and Japanese Patent 61114297 describes music strings made of drawn polyacetal. Other musical instruments, such as pianos, electric guitars and electric basses, typically employ strings constructed of less compliant materials having relatively high elasticity, such as carbon steel wire, stainless steel wire or phosphor bronze wire.
One of the most sought after features among musicians today is a musical instrument string that sustains its vibration and exhibits a higher volume of sound over a longer period of use. These characteristics depend largely upon the internal damping properties of the material used. A string with significantly low internal damping allows a majority of the wave motion created by the string vibration to be transferred to the body of the musical instrument without being absorbed by the string. This quality is particularly favorable in acoustic instruments, providing improved resonance within the body of the instrument. In other words, a low degree of material damping in a musical instrument string prevents the vibrations of the string from decaying too quickly and creating a “flat” or “dull” sound. In other words, reductions in internal damping leads to more sustained harmonics and therefore a brighter and more lively string sound.
Gut, nylon and synthetic resin materials typically exhibit high degrees of damping, due largely to the visco-elastic behavior of these materials. Some attempts have been made to reduce the internal damping of nylon strings by various treatments. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,705 describes the use of irradiation by high intensity ionizing radiation to improve the playing quality of nylon strings and U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,133 describes the use of radiation to improve the elasticity and reduce the damping in polyamide strings. These treatments, however, require the use of radioactive sources or high intensity electron beams and are expensive and technically difficult to carry out.
Metal strings, on the other hand, have much lower visco-elasticity and possess much better damping characteristics. Nonetheless, conventional metal strings are limited in their ability to achieve sustained vibration and higher volumes of sound due to the crystalline structure and its inherent imperfections, which absorbs mechanical energy. In addition, the bright tone and sustain of metal strings is typically short-lived once the strings have been installed on the instrument. That is, after being tuned to a desired pitch and played, the tone or sound produced by the string gradually diminishes in brilliance until reaching a flat or “dead” quality. This is particular prevalent in wound metal strings, where debris and corrosion quickly build up between the windings.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a musical instrument string having improved sustain of vibration as a result of decreased internal damping. Another object of the invention relates to a metal string having an improved lifespan and a reduced adsorption of energy that results in a longer and higher volume of sound for a given amplitude of perturbation by a bow in a string instrument or a hammer in a piano-like instrument.